‘I don’t understand why’ – Chris Sutton gives his verdict on John McGinn’s challenge on Udogie

Former Aston Villa striker Chris Sutton has shared his opinion on whether he believed that John McGinn deserved a red card against Tottenham Hotspur.

With his side having gone behind twice in the space of three minutes early in the second half as a result of goals from James Maddison and Brennan Johnson, the Villa captain decided to take his frustration out on Destiny Udogie.

When in possession of the ball, Udogie attempted to dribble the ball towards the halfway line only for McGinn to recklessly clatter into the Italian international in what could have been a serious injury, with the Villa player looking like he had no intention to play the ball.

Udogie, who had fallen to the floor, stood up immediately and appeared to want to confront the Villa midfielder only to feel the pain of the challenge and went back to the ground.

McGinn was shown a straight red card by referee Craig Kavanagh while Udogie required treatment from Tottenham’s medical staff before the game continued.

John McGinn’s tackle on Destiny Udogie deserved a red card

Sutton has revealed that McGinn fully deserved to be sent off and believes that the Scotland international saw ‘red mist’ before cynically chopping at Udogie’s leg.

He told the ‘It’s All Kicking Off!’ podcast: “They weren’t helped with the ridiculous sending off.

“I say ridiculous sending off from John McGinn, I thought it was a red card, that was cynical, there was no attempt to play the ball and wiped [Destiny] Udogie out.

“That’s a red card offence, I don’t understand why people are whinging about that.”

Sutton added “That [kind of challenge] was sort of accepted in the 80s and the 90s, I’m angry I’m going to show I care, but no attempt to play the ball.

“They’re not going to appeal that, that was a guy who saw the red mist and lost his head and ended up seeing red.”

Tottenham cruised to a 4-0 victory over Aston Villa to bolster their hopes of a top four finish with Heung-min Son and Timo Werner rounding off the rout.

SpursWeb Opinion

McGinn deserves at least a three-match ban for that challenge, which could have easily broken the leg of Udogie and seriously harmed Tottenham’s chances of Champions League football. The Italian has become a key part of the first-team squad this season and has made the left-back position his own.

Villa are no strangers to the dark side of football as we have seen with Matty Cash’s challenge on Matt Doherty that ended his season and earlier this campaign, his reckless tackle which left Rodrigo Bentancur back on the treatment table.

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